Man or Astro-man? are a largely instrumental band that combine classic surf rock stylings (Dick Dale, The Ventures) with elements of 1980's New Wave and Punk Rock and were known for the Science Fiction themes of their songs and their liberal use of sound clips from vintage TV shows and Sci-fi movies. Common themes include aliens getting transmissions from Earth, which may explain their fascination with our pop culture.

In their later years their music incorporated a more synthesizer-heavy and experimental sound to their surf core, including one song (A Simple Text File) that was played using nothing more than a dot matrix printer.

In 1998 Man or Astro-man? sent a group of "clones" out on the road to tour.[2] The clones had names similar to their original counterparts: Birdstuff became Dorkstuff, Coco became Cocoid, Star Crunch became Chromo Crunch and Dexter X became Dexter Y. This new line-up toured under the name "Man or Astro-man Clone Tour Alpha" and maintained their clone identities while on stage. Members of the Alpha clones were also in numerous other bands including Toenut, The Causey Way, Jonny and the Shamen, The Man Made Brain, Humans, Neutronic, Pilot Scott Tracy, The Plastic Plan, etc.

After the success of the Alpha Project, Man or Astro-man? "cloned" themselves a second time, in1999, this time using females, who adopted the names Coco Active, Chromia Staria, Tweety-Tone, and Carol, and toured nationally under the name "Man or Astro-man? Clone Project Gamma."

The Good Astro-Men project began as a community of thinkers and essayists dedicated to improving the capacity of empathy, listening and understanding that Astro-men often have trouble with concerning Earth Peoples. Unfortunately, it soon devolved into a forum for defensive kneejerks who saw any criticism of the inequities or injustices perpectrated by Astro-Men as an attack on all Astro-Men, and were quick to squash debate and exploration of these topics by shouting "#NotAllAstroMen!" They would then shout over Earthlings and Astro-mansplain topics that clearly Earthlings would have more knowledge of, such as the Astro-Man privilege that unfairly effects non-Astro-men, and the negative stigma associated with non-Astro-men in an Astro-Man dominated cosmos. Instead of opening up dialogues, many began to blame victims of interstellar conquest for their own annihilations, revert back to pre-millenial nuclear fusion modalities, "other" their non-Astro-man counterparts by using a hypergeodizing device to render them one-dimensional, and generally apologize for the terrible behavior of Astro-men everywhere, from the realms of Metaverse gamers to the dreaded Galactic Football League.

Man or Astro-Man? have returned to earth for the human masses and after years of hibernation they are now unveiling their finest recorded work to date. It has been nearly 12 years since the band last released their intergalactic sonic wave forms, and the new album, Defcon 5…4…3…2…1 is here now with a striking validity that the band is unquestionably as both tuneful and energetic as they ever have been.</span>
The record combines ever-familiar Astro audio tones and the well-established playing ferocity that MOAM? are known for, but yet now, there is an undeniably evolution to the band that is both intuitive, logical and well crafted. Defcon is here and is here with imminent purpose. Always known as an unstoppably powerful live band, in 2010, the original lineup of Birdstuff, Coco and Star Crunch reformed to play a series of shows, and since then, they have been putting on some of the best performances of their career. Recorded with longtime Astro copilot, Steve Albini in Chicago, IL and also with Daniel Farris of Denial Labs in Birmingham, AL, the new album finds the band bringing their unique powerful style of Science Friction back to greater humanity in supreme form. It seems Man or Astro-Man? haven’t missed a beat, and the newly recorded material finds the band being as inventive and propulsive as ever. Now put on your space helmet on and strap in. The countdown begins now… Purchase via Soundcloud